Mar 20 2019 the 2011 tile industry standards define the minimum bond layer thickness to be 3 32 after beat in but the maximum thickness has more to do with the manufacturer of the thinset mortar you are using.
Thinset thickness for large wall tile.
Using a u notched trowel and embedding the tile into the thinset leaves you with a bed of thinset beneath the tile a little over 1 3 the size of the trowel teeth.
In the case of travertine the back of the tile is smooth so a larger notched trowel wouldn t necessarily be required.
A 3 8 x 3 8 trowel will leave a 3 16 bed of thinset beneath the tile.
A chemical reaction takes place within 30 minutes of mixing that starts the bonding process between the tile and the underlayment or wall.
Spread the mixture using a notched trowel whose notch size.
So a 3 8 u notched trowel leaves a 1 8 bed of thinset beneath the installed tile.